Set Me Free
by Dookaller
Summary: In the end it was Atem himself who knocked down the barriers of that miserable prison, who tore through his own chains and stepped into the light. And it always will be.


The once great and powerful Pharaoh sat on a cold hard dirty floor of nothingness. Being kept, like a slave, like a filthy criminal, from everything he loved or once cared about. Being kept from creating new loves and moving on and growing as a person. He was kept in a box, a hollow shell of the celebrated King he once was, shackled and bound in his own losses. Now the only thing that gave him warmth in the dank dark room was his ornate royal purple cape, color fading, worn from the years of imprisonment. Would someone save him one day? He could not imagine a savior pure enough to truly rescue him from the ruins he had brought himself to. But he dreamed of it anyway. The day he would be saved from this dungeon in his heart. And perhaps today was this day. He wondered if it was, as he heard a creak at the iron door. Or if it was simply more pain, making its rounds.

The door creaked again, like it was being pushed. It did look like a heavy old door. Like it would need a heave and a ho to get through. And then in the doorway, The Pharaoh saw him. A strange man, who seemed to look just like him, but in bizarre clothing.

"Your name," he heard the man say in a deep voice that could rival his own, "Say it."

"Mhm… The once Pharaoh… Atem."

"Atem," he stepped toward the broken king, "He's done it."

"Who… Who are you?"

"I am you. I am the future of you. I am Atem."

"Are you… Are you some sort of… You are so pale… You are the body of my reanimated corpse?"

"Corpse… no, I am you. I'm merely… like Yugi. Well I am Yugi..."

"Yugi… that word, it rings with so much love."

"Because he's done it Atem. He has saved us," the man said coming closer, to look straight down at the body in the worn and rotting regal attire.

"A savior, are you?"

"No, I am a captive like you." He leaned down into the Pharaoh, getting onto his knees so they were face to face, mere inches from each other, "Yugi is the savior. He is our future. He is our everything. Brilliant, magnificent. Perfect and pure in his own right."

"You believe that to be true?"

"It is."

"You emanate love."

"And so do you great Pharaoh."

"Do you think this is why we cannot move on? Our vanity? Loving, wholeheartedly, other versions of ourselves?"

"Love is NEVER wrong," he told the Pharaoh with certainty. "Do you want to be free?"

The Pharaoh nodded slowly and looked into the deep purple eyes of his pale counterpart.

"Lift your chains," The man commanded him. The Pharaoh obeyed and the man pulled a key from his odd blue uniform. He lifted the key to the shackle and as he put it through the hole, placed his lips against the great Pharaoh's. He turned the key in the lock, the chains clattered to the floor, and the Pharaoh self-indulgingly wrapped his arms around the pale man, both of them beginning to disappear, becoming one.

Yami, Yugi's alter ego and once great Pharaoh, sat on the floor. Now alone. He straightened the collar of his blue jacket, and then looked at his hands. Brown hands scarred with life experience. Hands that had done things he thought he could never imagine. He hunched over and began to cry.

"Why do you weep?" he heard a small voice ask from the doorway.

"Yugi, I… I can remember."

"I told you, you would."

"But I remember everything… EVERYTHING. Of this life and the last. My kingdom in pain. My sacrifices. The moments when I wasn't quite real. Horrible things, I did in your name."

"You are not who you were, have been, or have considered being. You are not who you pretend to be or who you want to be. You are exactly who you are, right now."

"Yugi, how do you go on knowing us? All this time, we battled those we thought would destroy purity. We know no purity. We act as though we are higher than those like Bakura. Who are we to make these comparisons?"

"Pharaoh, all souls are pure. I forgive you for any mistakes of your past, and so, as we are one, you forgive yourself. We are not pegs, and there are no holes into which we fit. We are further than this black and white you hold on to. I love you. And love is everything." Yugi gestured for Yami to stand up. He did, and walked tentatively toward the boy. The boy reached up and laid a hand on Yami's tear stained cheek.

"You are setting me free?" Yami asked.

"No, I am not the one. It is you. You are the only one holding yourself back."

And again, in this strange dark place two mirror images kissed. Lips airy, almost missing each other, not really touching each other, in this magnified place where souls could speak. And in each other's arms, they too began to disappear, becoming a blinding, dancing light, reforming itself into the energy of a great and powerful Pharaoh. The Pharaoh was standing alone, starring into the room he was seeing for the last time. And then that standing proved to not be standing, but floating, reclining, lying, body at rest and for a moment none of it had been real, as the Pharaoh thought he was waking up in his bed in his palace. And in his fingers he felt the starchy sheets, and the edge of his bed, and smelled foods he never ate, and something dirty… smog… And Yugi sat up in his bed. His back strait and his eyes wide. _'Odd way to wake up,'_ he thought, _'knowing like I've never known before, that I am Yugi Muto.' _Then he slid out of bed and strode to his closet with all the poise of a great master. _What to wear… what to wear…_ The King of Games had an important Duel today.


End file.
